Post’s Junior Reporters Tackle Teen Contest

By SERENA PERL | Junior Reporter

Going to the Mr. and Miss Palisades Teen Contest on March 26, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would this be a beauty contest, a personality contest or something totally out of the blue?
The show started off with an outstanding, upbeat performance by the a capella group Filharmonic which was impressive in itself. Next, the contest host and 1996 Mr. Palisades Christian Saglie introduced the contestants, each saying their name, age and school. The contestants were as young as 14 years of age to high school seniors. A majority attended Palisades High School but some were from neighboring private schools as well. Each of the contestants gave a performance showing their talent to the audience. Some of the acts included hula hooping, singing, martial arts, and even archery!
Once all the contestants had performed it was time for them to answer three questions; A question about the topic of their choice, what their plans were for the future and a randomly generated question. Many of these topics revolved around the contestants’ interests or accomplishments. For example, Audrey Kaller raised a whopping $150,000 for the Epilepsy Foundation and Evan Epstein’s topic was based on his Carnegie Hall piano performance. Most fun for the audience was the last surprise question that contestants picked out from a bowl. Questions such as “If you won a million dollars, what would you do first?” and “If you could be on the cover of any magazine, which magazine would it be and why?” were asked. It really amazed me how well each contestant answered the question and none of them stumbled over their answers.
The judges and the audience cast their vote and the runner-up for Mr. Palisades was….Evan Epstein with his astounding piano piece and the runner-up for Miss Palisades was…. Kimara Velez with her graceful dance routine. Daniel Gottesman, the youngest contestant with his humor and modest answers was Mr. Palisades while the girl with the amazing Broadway-musical-like voice Danika Masi got Miss. Palisades 2015!
Overall all the contestants were amazing and the 2015 Mr. and Miss Palisades Teen Contest was fantastic and I’m even more excited for the 2016 contest!